How can God’s
generosity make us more generous?
The widow of
Zarephath trusts in the generosity of God. When, in 1 Kings, Elijah asks her for a small cupful of water and a bit of bread, his request represents
true hardship for her: the land is suffering from drought, and doing as Elijah
says will require the widow’s last handful
of flour and oil. Yet, following the laws of hospitality, the
widow remains generous to the end.
Perhaps she senses that Elijah’s God is a trustworthy God: as your
God lives, she says, suggesting that Elijah’s is a vibrant God who takes care
of all, including widows and orphans,
as Psalm 146 states. Elijah is dependent
upon the widow’s generosity just as she is dependent upon God’s, and in the
end, she is able to eat for a year, and
he and her son as well. Her trust
enables her to rely upon a God she knows only by instinct; her generosity mirrors
that of the God in whom she will come to believe.
The widow in Mark’s
Gospel demonstrates similar trust in God when she puts two small coins into the
treasury. Although the immoral scribes are willing to devour the houses of widows in exchange
for prayers, the widow has absolute trust that God will take care of her, and
of those who support her. She is
generous in her poverty, a model of
God’s generosity, which will see its epitome in the death of Jesus, who takes away sin by his sacrifice, as the
Letter to the Hebrews states. How
awe-inspiring, then, to remember that every time we participate in a sacrament,
we participate in Jesus’ ultimate gift – life given for the sake of life, life
for all – that we might, in turn, be generous to all, trusting that whatever we
can give, it is a participation of sorts in the infinite generosity and love of
God.
This post is based
on Fr. Pat’s Scripture class.
Image source:
www.wordle.net
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